The reasonableness of faith

The reasonableness of faith as an encounter with the splendour of God’s truth.
General Audience, November 21, 2012

In last week's audience, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the relationship between faith and reason.  When greeting the English-speaking pilgrims, he said, "Far from being in conflict, faith and science go hand in hand in the service of man’s moral advancement and his wise stewardship of creation."  The Catholic perspective never places faith in opposition to reason; rather, as Blessed Pope John Paul II said in the introduction to Fides et Ratio:


"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves."

 

Blessed Pope John Paul II--picture from the banner
at his beatification

In this same line of thought, Pope Benedict spoke about the fruitful relationship that is possible between faith and reason:

• Through faith we discover that the encounter with God perfects and elevates whatever is true, good and beautiful in us.

• Faith makes possible an authentic knowledge of God; this knowledge involves the whole person and gives a whole new flavor to life, a new and joyful way of being in the world.

Fideism, which Pope Benedict defines as the will to believe against reason--in other words, I believe this thing because it does not make sense--has always been rejected by Catholic tradition.  Why is this so?

God is Truth, and can therefore never be an absurdity, that is, something that I believe in because I cannot know it.  At the same time, this does not deny that God is a mystery.  But the fact that something or someone is a mystery to us does not automatically make that thing "irrational."  Rather, let's think of mystery as an overabundance of meaning, significance, and truth.  The Holy Father cited the classic example of looking into the sun: when you look directly at the sun, you only see darkness.  But we all know that this doesn't mean that the sun is dark.  Rather, it is so luminous that we are not capable of seeing all its light at the same time.

Faith allows us to look at God, but that doesn't mean that we understand all of God all at once.  It is also false to say that faith blocks the human reason, because our faith is exercised with reason: "I believe so that I may understand; I think so that I may believe." (St. Augustine)

It's important to understand this point, because from here we can see that the Catholic faith actually nurtures trust in human reason.  Again, from Fides et Ratio:

'Faith is in a sense an “exercise of thought”; and human reason is neither annulled nor debased in assenting to the contents of faith, which are in any case attained by way of free and informed choice.'

'The world is not a shapeless mass of magma, but the better
we know it and the better we discover its marvellous mechanisms
the more clearly we can see a plan,
 we see that there is a creative intelligence.
Albert Einstein said that in natural law is revealed
“an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it,
all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings
is an utterly insignificant reflection” (The World As I See It, 1949).'
--Pope Benedict XVI, General audience, November 14, 212

Once we see the connection between faith and reason, we can begin to build up a virtuous relationship between science and faith.  Scientific research brings us to ever new truths about man and the world; we see its fruits all around us and we are grateful for the amazing discoveries already reached.  A question arises though: What can faith possibly have to say to the world of science?  The two seem diametrically opposed in our world view.





A truly lived faith does not enter into conflict with science, but cooperates with it.  Faith offers the fundamental criteria for the promotion of the common good.  Seeking the true good of man includes supporting research geared at the service of life and the well-being of all.  Scientific research that promotes responsible stewardship of creation is also very important.  When science, however, attempts against or opposes the original plan of God, the effects will backfire, and man will harm himself.  Faith assures that scientific progress will always be for the good and truth of man, remaining faithful to the designs of God.

God's truth is his wisdom, which commands the whole created order and governs the world.  God, who alone made heaven and earth, can alone impart true knowledge of every created thing in relation to himself.  --Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 216

Image of Pope John Paul II from worldyouthday.com
Image of Albert Einstein from nedhardy.com